In round 1, the Giants went with the 2nd best running back in the draft, HB David Wilson, Virginia Tech. This guy is fast an explosive, and should give the Giants some insurance with Bradshaw’s injury concerns, the departure of Brandon Jacobs, and the unproven guys we have waiting. Wilson is unproven too, of course, but he has the tools to become great. Should be fun to watch in blue.

In round 2, the Giants went with another offensive skill player, WR Reuben Randle out of LSU. Despite a weird offense with a mediocre QB in college, Randle has proven he can make big plays. Marc Ross says he is ready to play in the NFL:

With receivers a lot it gets overblown with 40 times and this and that, you get guys that are NFL-ready. And what I mean by that is this guy is strong, he can catch the ball, he’s a good route runner and he’s position-savvy, he knows how to get open. To me, those are the successful receivers in the NFL.

After going RB and WR in rounds 1 and 2, the Giants went for a deensive skill position in round 3, a CB from Virginia Tech. Something of a surprise pick since he failed a test for marijuana at the combine. But the giants have shown they are willing to draft guys with ‘character concerns’ if they are football players. Think Mario Manningham. Also, he is a bit smaller than the CBs the Giants have been drafting recently – maybe they have him pegged as a guy who can cover small, shifty slot receivers?

Sport Science: Jayron Hosley

So I sit at the bar and hear a few guys behind me cheering for the Giants. So I turn around and ask if I can join them. One dude’s Canadian so i don’t know why he was rooting for the Giants but the rest were Denver fans and since New England had just destroyed Denver in the playoffs, they were rooting for the Giants. Doesn’t matter why, they were rooting for the right team and they were good company.

The game itself? What more could you ask for? I couldn’t hear the announcers but half the time that’s a bonus anyway. I was hoping the Ginats would run the ball a bit more, especially at the end. But Manning showed why he’s the Giants highest paid player. The defense held the Patriots to 17 points.

Which brings me back a few years to Jan 30, 2008. “We’re only going to score 17 points?” Brady said chuckling. “OK. Is Plax playing defense?” The Giants won 17-14 in Super Bowl 42.

Well, in 2012 the Giants were all playing defense. Good tackling. Big games from Justin Tuck. Good game from Chase Blackburn (great story there), good games all around really.

Interestingly, luck was on the Giants side. Usually they have to overcome bad luck but today they could just focus on beating the other guys. Two fumbles they recovered. A big drop from Wes Welker. Or just a bad pass by Brady. Both really.

Anyhow, I’m on vacation. More on the game later.

But anyway, they say to start by stopping the run. Which is interesting because that’s what San Francisco did. And they still lost. So is the right strategy really to force Eli Manning to beat you?

Sure, sometimes he’s inconsistent. But he’s playing well now and if I’m the Patriots, I’m not making the run game my top priority.

Is Manning as good a quarterback as Brady? Of course not. In eight seasons, Manning’s made two Pro Bowls. He’s completed just 58.4 percent of his passes in his career and has an 82.1 passer rating. Twice he’s led the NFL in interceptions, and twice this season he lost to the Redskins. But he is that rare athlete who gets better when the games get bigger. You might even call him the anti-Peyton. The only MVP trophy he has is the one from Super Bowl XLII, which is the one that really matters.

Amazingly, the Giants won this game on special teams. I say amazingly because special teams have not always been special in recent years in New York. Today, though, the game winning field goal was set up by a special teams turnover. And the game reached overtime thanks in large part to a 49ers special teams turnover.

Playing for return specialist Ted Ginn Jr., Kyle Williams was the 49er who gave up both fumbles recovered by our NY Giants. The wide receiver out of Arizona State has mostly mental mistakes to blame. He was in poor position when a punt in the 4th quarter bounced into his knee. The on field ruling was that the ball never touched Williams but this was correctly overturned on instant replay. Huge huge credit to the Giants Devin Thomas for recovering both fumbles. Clearly the Giants best coverage guy on special teams. He deserves a bonus for his game today.

Yeah, Hakeem Nicks is hot right now. They mentioned on Numbers Don’t Lie that Nicks is only the 3rd receiver in history to have 2 playoff games of 100 yards and 2 TDs in the same season. Jerry Rice and Larry Fitzgerald were the other two.

But let’s not forget, Mr. national football league media people, that Nicks was pretty good last year and everyone in New York knew he was becoming something special.

Last year 79 catches 1050 yards 11 touchdowns in 13 games
This year 76 catches 1100+ yards 7 touchdowns in 15 games (not playing at 100%)

Now Hakeem Nicks is no Andre Johnson, Calvin Johnson, or Larry Fitzgerald. But even if you don’t watch him play, he’s a consecutive 1,000 yard receiver. You gotta know he’s a bit more then decent.

Of course you can’t blame the giants only. The officiating in the NFL is so ridiculously bad right now that you wonder. How could it be so bad? How could the NFL not fix this terrible problem that makes fans throw up in their mouths? I mean the Giants should have been winning 30-3 at halftime. The refs made it 20-10. That’s a lot of ref interference.

But the Giants, man. They laid some eggs this season. Now, they can beat the packers and the Zebras in Wisconsin. They started winning in the trenches, playing good defense, clicking on offense, and just became fun to watch again.

Well, fun except for the officials who miss holds on JPP, late hits on Eli, make ludicrously bad spots, mess up calls on the field, mess up replays, and look entirely corrupt because who could be that incompetent? 30-20 now. The NFL officials are a pretty tough opponent for Big Blue.